GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE-BASED ASSESSMENT – IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK!

1. GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE-BASED ASSESSMENT – IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK! Fall 2013

2. OVERVIEW • We teach the skills and content that GVSU and society wants our graduates to have. • We assess how well students learn it (1 / 3 yrs) • We report the results to students, faculty, and the larger community • We revise our courses

3. TEACH, ASSESS, REVISE • Content goals (unique to the category) • Skills goals (you have 2 or 3) Critical and Creative Thinking Written Communication Oral Communication Collaboration Information Literacy Ethical Reasoning Integration Problem Solving Quantitative Literacy

4. How and Why We Assess in GE • Grades – we can’t use grades! (UAC) • We use course-embedded measures because • Through the curricular process, faculty said how they would teach the goals in the GE course • Students take it seriously because it is part of their course grade • Results can cycle back faster to improve teaching in individual courses.

5. KEY POINTS • Assessment is a work-in-progress • No pre and post test needed • One measurement of learning is fine • Assess towards the end of the term • Use the rubric to assign scores (0-4) • You can’t use a grade to assign a score • a 4 is not an A, a 4 is an extremely high level of skill • We hope all students get to a level 3 by the time they graduate

6. KEY POINTS • Critical point  One student report can measure many things but you must disaggregate the score. • A student could get an 80 on a report which is comprised of a 65 for information literacy and , 90 for the content. The report can be used to measure 3 goals, but you must report a 65, 83 and a 90 as the scores on the value. If you understand this principle, then you can use it for the rubrics which have a value from 0-4. • The student may get a 3 on oral communication, and a 2 on critical thinking, and a 2 on the content. You need to evaluate the goals separately • You may not want to assess all the goals with one report (maybe use an exam two assess two goals and a report to assess two other goals). • We encourage you to share the results with students so they know where they need to focus their efforts

7. DO NOW 1. Do you know the content goals for your course? 2. Do you know the skills goals for your course? 3. Do you know the definition of the skills goals? Go to the GE website to find the material listed below: www.gvsu.edu/gened B

9. DO NOW 4. How will you teach the goals? 5. How will you assess the goals? 6. Do you know how to log in? Go to the GE website to find the material listed below: www.gvsu.edu/gened GE also distributed materials. Email us for copies! B

10. http://intranet.gvsu.edu/courseassessment • If you are off campus you need to use VPN (see directions online) • Click here

11. RUBRICS

13. 2 3 3 2 3 The skills rubric has 3-4 subcomponents, but you can report one number for the category. If you want to report on each of the subcomponents, let us know and we’ll add them back in. These are broad questions (make sure the students see the forest for the trees)

14. DO TOWARDS THE END OF THE SEMESTER Enter the assessment data online • Submit the data before Dec. 31 • Then wait for us to mail you tables and figures of your results Go to the GE website to find the material listed below: www.gvsu.edu/gened B

15. DO IN JANUARY Complete the CAR (Course Assessment Report) • Submit the CAR by Feb. 1 • 1 CAR for all the sections • Email: gened@gvsu.edu The goal of the CAR is to reflect on what you learned and figure out what you want to change about teaching or assessing.